Talk It Out
by Tatl of Termina
Summary: After the events of Sonic Adventure 2, Amy tries to cheer up Sonic, but it seems that they could both use a little closure, a little insight, and maybe somebody to lean on.


(A/N: Hopefully it doesn't get too sappy at the end. Feel free to rip me a new one if it does! And just to be on the safe side, there's some mega ultra huge spoilers for Sonic Adventure 2 for those of you who haven't played it yet or don't know how it ends... all three of you. XD) 

Talk It Out

"Come on! Let's go home! To the planet as cool and blue as me!"

Amy wanted to call him on his inappropriateness after he said that. How could he just shrug it all off that fast? Was he really that impervious? She knew he was strong, but still.

Then, as she turned to tell him off, she saw his smile. Or rather, his attempt at a smile. His eyes were dull, his grin was half-hearted; he was hurting. Then she didn't know what bothered her more- that he was impervious, or that he wasn't.

A week later the excitement had died down. Life was getting back to normal. Amy had a few nightmares, but she didn't want to tell any of the others about them. It was time to move on, to live and learn, to-

_Forget that Sonic almost died_

Amy kept herself busy. She visited her new neighbors- a single mom and her little bunny daughter, she redecorated her apartment, she hung out with Tails at the park. She didn't mean to avoid Sonic, but it just happened. Partly it was her, but partly it was him, too. He had just… closed up after it all. Tails said that he hadn't talked to him much since it all went down, either. It was bothering him more than Amy first realized. But for a while, she just couldn't bring herself to approach him. It would make her remember. When two weeks passed, she knew she had to do something.

She had to be strong, right? He was.

* * *

"Hi, Sonic!" 

"Yeah?"

"I was just wondering if you were up for Twinkle Park tonight?"

"Uh… no thanks, Amy, I'm really not in the mood."

"Oh, why _not?"_

"I'm just not, okay? Why do you want to go so badly anyway?"

"Because I've barely even seen you at all for a long time! I'm _worried_ about you, Sonic!"

"Well, don't be. I'm fine."

"…Okay, how about this: If you go with me tonight, you don't have to marry me!"

He gave a sarcastic snort.

"What's so funny?"

"Nothin'. Okay, fine, whatever, if it means that much to you."

"Really? You promise you'll come?"

"Sure."

"Yay! See you at 8!"

"Yeah."

* * *

Despite talking Sonic into a date, Amy couldn't help but dread the coming evening. She sat at her vanity, fixing a ribbon in her hair, and stared at herself in the mirror. 

It wouldn't be so bad, it couldn't be. It's been such a long time, surely Sonic would snap out of it after a fun-filled night at the amusement park? Maybe he would finally confess his undying love for her! She giggled at the thought.

_He almost died_

She stopped giggling and finished straightening the ribbon.

Maybe a fun-filled night at the amusement park would snap her out of it, too.

* * *

Amy was sitting on the edge of the fountain outside of Twinkle Park, kicking her feet absentmindedly while she waited for Sonic. He was late, as usual, and she began to wonder if he was going to show up at all. And she was wondering if that would be a good thing. 

_No._ She thought. _I have to do this. For him._

There were people everywhere. Business at Twinkle Park was booming, as it had been since the ARK incident. All over the planet, it seemed like everyone wanted to get out and do more. Having the world as you know it almost end will do that to you. Amy glanced around at the crowds, hoping to catch a glimpse of Sonic in case he didn't see her first. It was 8:12. Was he coming? Did she really want him to come?

_Sonic almost died_

Amy stopped kicking her feet and stared ahead for a moment. It was then that she spied bright blue against the throng of people.

"Sonic!" She yelped without thinking. Well, here goes nothing.

He looked over in the direction of her voice. He motioned to her that he had heard, but other than that he did nothing. No smile, no small look of annoyance as per the usual, no emotion whatsoever. And then he started walking, almost shuffling, toward her. Amy jumped up and approached him, greeting him happily and talking about all the rides they needed to go on. All the while she couldn't help but notice that two weeks had done nothing to help- in fact, Sonic seemed _worse_ than he did when they left the ARK. But she pushed all of that to the back of her mind. Tonight the ARK did not exist as far as she was concerned. She wanted to have a good time. Most of all she just wanted to forget.

* * *

It proved harder than she first imagined. Almost as soon as they were inside the gates, they were bombarded by a group of people seeking autographs from the famed Sonic the Hedgehog. Sonic seemed happy enough to comply, but Amy could tell that it was the same false happiness he had on the ARK. She pulled him away as soon as she could, trying desperately to escape the memories of the ARK by retreating farther into the amusement park. She was so concerned with getting as far into the park as she could that she didn't even notice at first when Sonic said something. 

"Wha?" Amy said, stopping in her tracks.

"Jeez, Amy," Sonic snapped as he grabbed his arm away and rubbed his wrist. "What's the hurry? You almost yanked my arm off!"

"Oh!" She gasped. "I'm sorry, I wasn't paying attention!"

"It's fine." Sonic sighed, still gripping his wrist. "Look, I- maybe this wasn't such a good idea."

Amy's heart sank.

"But you _promised!"_ She whined. Sonic cringed a little.

"Yeah, I know." He said. "But there's too many people around and I really don't want to deal with giving out autographs for saving the world right now."

Amy studied him for a moment. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but there was something in Sonic's tone that seemed off. Was he bitter? About what?

"Then let's go to the lookout towers!" Amy exclaimed, pointing up at the towers at the top of Pleasure Castle. "I bet there won't be many people there!"  
"…Okay." He said.

* * *

The lookout towers were abandoned just as Amy thought they would be. With all of the more exciting attractions at Twinkle Park, one where you just watch the ocean didn't get a whole lot of attention. The din of the crowd was nothing more than a quiet hum from high atop Pleasure Castle. The air was cool and calm and the only real light was the moon and stars. It was romantic- a place that Amy had always dreamed of going with Sonic someday. Now, however, she wished they were there under better circumstances. Amy rushed out into the open air and leaned over the wall, looking down on the kaleidoscopic scene below, and then out at the ocean beyond. Sonic leaned against the wall as well, but seemed to stare down at the stone more than anything. 

"See, now isn't this _relaxing?"_ Amy grinned.

"I guess."

Amy's grin disappeared. She didn't understand- _why_ couldn't she get through to him? What on earth could be eating away at him this badly? He was _Sonic_, for crying out loud! Nothing could break him down! She had to get to the bottom of this. She had to make everything _right_ again-

_He almost DIED_

For herself.

"What's the matter?"

Sonic perked up at that. He glanced over at her.

"Whaddya mean by that?" He asked.

"You know perfectly well what I mean by that!" Amy said, sounding angrier than she intended. "Something's been bugging you ever since we left the ARK! You've been _avoiding_ me, _avoiding_ Tails, _avoiding everyone,_ you've been _pretending_ to be happy and I can _tell_ you're just faking it because I _know _you and I don't want to just sit back and watch you be _miserable_ because it's making _me_ miserable and I… and I… and I…"

Amy realized she couldn't hold it in anymore. She felt herself getting flustered, then she lost her train of thought, then her eyes started watering, and before she knew it, she had thrown her arms around him and was sobbing.

"Amy! What the-?" Sonic gasped, showing a genuine emotion for the first time the entire evening.

"_I thought you died!"_ She cried. "I tried so hard not to believe it! I tried so hard to believe you were okay! But I _saw it!_ I saw _everything!_ I saw the explosion and I really truly thought that _you were gone!"_

Amy didn't think she was making any sense, but she was so overwhelmed that she couldn't do anything but keep babbling:

"And then you came back and I thought everything was going to be all right but then you weren't acting like yourself and I can't figure out why and you wouldn't talk to me and you _still _won't talk to me and I _just want to know if you're okay_ and-"

She cut off when Sonic put his arms around her.

"I'm sorry, Amy."

She pulled away from him, to get a good look at his face. It was something she had never seen before- he, too, was close to tears. He let go of her and turned to stare out at the ocean.

"You're…right." He said. "Something's been bothering me. Heck, _everything's_ been bothering me. I just can't deal with it. I didn't mean to push you guys away like this, but I just don't know what else to _do."_

Amy stared at him for a moment. She had reached to the root of the problem, but now she wasn't sure of what to do next.

"Tell me." She said finally.

Sonic didn't say anything. Maybe he didn't know what to do next, either.

"…I screwed up." He said.

"What? How?" She asked.

"In every way possible!" He exclaimed, clenching his fists. "Station Square was almost rebuilt and then the business district got trashed again! Prison Island was destroyed… who knows how many GUN people were there when it blew! I let my guard down for ONE second and look at what it did to you and Tails! I couldn't stop the ARK from falling by myself and Shadow- I _couldn't even save Shadow!"_

He pounded his fist into the stone in time with those last four words. Amy opened her mouth but no sound came. Her hero, the invincible Sonic, felt like a failure? Suddenly, she remembered that group of autograph seekers they had run into- and it became clear. No wonder he had shut everyone out. He had no one to talk to because no one thought to listen. Why would they? He was Sonic the Hedgehog- he was always cool and collected. He had no time for regrets or remorse.

She had been thinking the same thing only a minute earlier.

"Sonic," She said, looking directly into his eyes. "You kept all of this bottled up because you didn't think anyone would understand, didn't you? Oh, gosh, Sonic, I'm so sorry, I should've figured this out sooner, I didn't have any _idea…_ you've always been invincible to me! I guess you've always been invincible to everyone."

"Amy, don't…" Sonic said. "Please don't apologize. This is all my fault. You said it yourself, everyone thinks I'm invincible but that's because I _want_ everyone to think that. I guess I'm just too proud. But I think this time it was too much even for me. I thought I could handle it, but I just can't."

Amy reached over and placed her hand over his fist.

"I wish I could kiss it and make it go away." She said slowly. "And I know that the last thing you want to hear is 'it's ok' and 'it's not your fault', because you've probably already heard that a thousand times. But if there's one thing I can do, I can tell you that you have one less person that you have to be invincible for, and one more person you can come and talk to."

She finished her speech, and then they both just kind of stared at each other.

"…Thanks." Sonic said finally. "I never had anyone make me sit down and just talk about it No one's ever really done anything like that for me. I guess it's what I need. Ya know, a shoulder to cry on."

"Everybody does, every now and then, right?"Amy said. "I'm more than happy to be that person for you."

Then she blushed as she recalled her earlier breakdown.

"And… thanks for being that person for me."

"Hey, don't worry about it."

For a moment there was no sound except for the distant murmur of the crowd below them. Finally, Sonic broke the silence.

"Hey."

Amy looked up at him.

"Since we're here… you wanna go ride the roller coaster?"

And then he smiled- and this time it was a genuine, mischievous, Sonic the Hedgehog smile. Amy felt herself tear up again, but this time it was out of relief. She laughed, and knew everything was finally going to be okay.


End file.
